"Your targets are these pirates?"
Renato sat on the leather sofa in the second-floor private room, leaning back slightly.
The room was much quieter than the bar downstairs. A faded nautical chart hung on the wall, its island outlines revised so many times that some of the ink lines had become illegible.
Aside from the burly enforcer stationed on either side of the door, only he and Pye were present. Their privacy had been thoroughly ensured.
The gang boss lounged on the leather sofa opposite him, thick arms resting on the armrests, a peculiar expression on his face.
Only after realizing that Renato was not joking, and genuinely knew nothing about the famous Tidal Eight Nobles, did Pye speak, somewhat at a loss:
"The Tidal Eight Nobles aren't ordinary pirates. Take Kraken Gap, the Drowned Prince, for instance. The Kingdom of Marispan has offered a hundred thousand gold coins for his head. Rumor has it that this legendary pirate, who has survived since the Age of Three Kings, commands more than a dozen magical warships, all ghost ships risen from the seabed. Whenever a storm strikes, they surface, sink ships, and drown everyone aboard..."
The gang boss fell silent for a moment. When Pye saw the undisguised curiosity on the tall nobleman's face, without any of the instinctive fear and tension Thousand Islanders showed upon hearing Kraken Gap's name, he immediately realized he would have to explain the basics from the beginning. Otherwise, naming the target outright would only leave the other man bewildered.
He shifted in his seat, cleared his throat, and began again, speaking more slowly:
"The Tidal Eight Nobles is the collective name for the eight most powerful pirate lords currently active in the Sea of Archipelagos."
"They plunder ships traveling between the New and Old Continents,